Improved boot times: Vista vs Windows 7

I think it was Andrew who pointed me to Soluto as a method of improving boot times on Windows PCs.

I have mentioned before that my Vista-running X61 tablet takes a while to boot. Soluto measured boot time at just over 10 minutes. I followed its advice, and through delaying and removing various crapware and legitimate startup programs I got boot time down to 5 minutes and 10 seconds.

Emboldened, this weekend I took some advice from Ian’s comments on my last post and shelled out AU$300 for a copy of Windows 7 Professional (upgrade).

Now, with a few tweaks recommended by Soluto I’m recording a consistent boot time of 1 minute 35 seconds.

My aging tablet feels like new again (during boot).

Update: Actually, it feels pretty snappy since the Windows 7 makeover and some hybrid SSD drive loving. Boot time is now a shade under a minute and application launches are snappier than they’ve ever been.

2 thoughts on “Improved boot times: Vista vs Windows 7”

I’ve had the same boot time issues with my X61 tablet and have been thinking of installing Windows 7. Glad to hear you’re happy with it. I think I’ll take the plunge on a weekend when I have some time to install it. Any advice before starting?

I ran the Win7 upgrade advisor before I performed the upgrade. I removed a bunch of stuff it recommended including iTunes and some older crapware. It’s hard to tell how much it helped, but apart from a good set of recent backups, this is probably a good risk-mitigation step.